My Prague – Jiří Fajt

Since becoming director of the Czech National Gallery three years ago this
month, Jiří Fajt has secured exhibitions by major international artists
and helped make its numerous buildings in the capital more accessible to
the public. Our tour of “his Prague” begins at the Convent of St. Agnes
of Bohemia on the edge of the Old Town. It houses the National Gallery’s
impressive medieval collection and was headed by the Prague-born Fajt
himself in the late 1990s.

“We are now sitting in the church of the St. Agnes cloister, which was a
double cloister – it had a women’s part and a men’s part.

“This church served or was built not only as a cloister church – it
also served as a burial place for the kings of Bohemia and their entire
families.”

Do you remember when you first came here?

“It must have been in the 1980s. At that time the National Gallery
presented a collection of 19th century art here.

“I was somehow a little bit shocked because of the competition between
the installed art – the historical, big, monumental paintings by painters
like [Václav] Brožík from the late 19th century – and this very
refined Gothic architecture.

“It somehow disturbed me and that’s why when I was responsible for
this building, during the late ‘90s, I simply decided to change the whole
content of this building and decided to place the collection of medieval
art here.

There are a lot of sacred buildings in the Czech Republic, but people say
the Czechs are one of the most atheistic nations in the world. Do these
sacred buildings still have resonance for Czechs even though they tend to
be atheist?

“I think they do. I think they present something that doesn’t
necessarily have to be linked to the institution of the Church.

“The spaces are very attractive and from an emotional point of view
serve as a place for contemplation, actually.”

You mentioned that the Bohemian kings were buried here. It seems to me
that a lot of Czechs take great interest in that part of the nation’s
history.

“I think so. Because there are specifically a couple of historical
personalities that attract great attention from the general public.

“Let me just mention Charles IV, who was the emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire in the third quarter of the 14th century.

“At that time Prague became the capital of the whole continent. With the
court of Charles IV and the fact a lot of people were invited or attracted
here, Prague was actually the melting pot of Europe.

“You can recognise this if you look at the collection on the first floor
here, because we have some of the most important and, from the quality
point of view, best painting from that time in this building and in the
collection of the National Gallery.

“And that is because of Charles IV.”

Jiří Fajt in Malá Strana, photo: Ian Willoughby
The next stop on our brief jaunt around “Jiří Fajt’s Prague” is at
a small green area on the street U Lužického semináře in the beautiful
if touristy Malá Strana district. Sitting on a park bench on a lovely
sunny afternoon, our guide explains his ties to the historic area on the
left bank of the Vltava.

“If you look around us you see Baroque houses combined with Renaissance
attics and so on and so on.

“This is something that I admire a lot. I love it, actually.

“The Lesser Town, Malá Strana, is in my opinion the most beautiful
district in the whole historical city of Prague.

“On top of that, I actually live here. Close by, behind us, there is a
house on the embankment by the river where I stay.

“This is my personal like to this district.

“And furthermore we are close to the Charles Bridge, which was built
shortly after the middle of the 14th century, which I can say is maybe
‘my century’, from the professional point of view, of course.

“So there are many aspects of this place that are very typical and
familiar to me. And that’s why we are here.”

You were telling me earlier that you acquired your apartment just after
the revolution. How has Malá Strana changed over those years?

“Before the revolution, Malá Strana was somehow, I would say, even more
romantic than now.

“And that’s actually the case of the whole historical part of this
city – that now it’s totally overcrowded.

“I think the municipal authorities should be aware that they are obliged
to control this mass tourism.

Tourists on Charles Bridge, photo: Jolana Nováková
“Mass tourism is something that already damaged Venice or Barcelona, but
fortunately the local authorities in Barcelona realised and recognised the
danger of this development and they started to control the city.

“And that’s something that Prague needs to do as well.”

Are there practical difficulties of living in Malá Strana? For example, I
presume there aren’t supermarkets or bakeries.

“I have to say that I cannot imagine living here with the family, having
two small kids and being just focused on this small district.

“Because your presumption was totally correct – there is nothing like
a store where you can food of a reasonable quality.

“The infrastructure is very bad.”

Has the community changed a lot? For instance, are many of your neighbours
people who have been here since the early 1990s? Or are a lot of the people
here relatively new?

“All of the neighbours have changed a lot, actually. Many people left
these houses.

“Above all the original people who were living here for generations were
somehow, well not forced because they expected money – they decided to
sell and newcomers came in.

“But still that is the better case, actually, because there are also
people who are leaving their apartments in order to offer them on the free
market as Airbnbs or short-term accommodation.

“That’s totally damaging the whole society which is living here.

“It’s very disturbing from my point of view, and I think there are
many people who would agree that this is something that’s actually very
dangerous for the whole city.

“Because the people who come to Prague would love to see normal life
here. They are not so interested in seeing Disneyland, or something like
that.

“I’m pretty worried about further development because I can see this
tendency to create here a sort of Disneyland for tourists who come to
Prague and stay two nights and are then somewhere else: in Vienna or
Dresden or Berlin.

“I think this sort of development is very problematic and the local
authorities must deal with this issue.”

Interior of Cukr káva limonáda, photo: Ian Willoughby
From U Lužického semináře it’s just a five-minute walk to the pretty
café Cukr káva limonáda, which is also in Malá Strana. Jiří Fajt’s
family are based in Berlin and he commutes there at weekends. Before we get
on to comparing the two cities, the National Gallery chief and art
historian tells me why Cukr káva limonáda is part of “his Prague”.

“In my opinion, this is one of the best coffeehouses in this
neighbourhood.

“It’s very cozy here. It’s small, but the cook is very good. They
have a great bakery here, so you can enjoy everything which is totally
fresh. The cakes are really very famous here.”

The café has a lot of elements you’ll find in other places in Prague,
like the blackboard menu. But what it has that’s different is this
painted ceiling – do you know if it’s original?

“Yes, this is an original ceiling, wooden, painted in the 17th century.

“It’s a late Renaissance ceiling of a kind that was widespread in the
whole historical part of the city, specifically Malá Strana was well-known
for the usage of this kind of ceiling.